A 


FirWlSRAXi  8ESHO>, 

OCCASIONED  BY  THE  DEATH  OF  THE 

REV.  PHILIP  MELANCTJION  WHELPLEY, 

PASTOR  OF  THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  IN  THE 
CITY  OF  NEW-YORK, 


PREACHED  IN  THAT  CHURCH 


ON  THE 

26th  DAY  OF  JULY,  1824 

TOGETHER  WITH  AN 


ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  HIS  FUNERAL, 


By  GARDINER  SPRING, 

Pastor  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church  in  said  City. 


NEW-YORK  : 

PRINTED  BY  J.  SEYMOUR,  JOHN-STREET. 

1824. 


ELDERS,  DEACONS,  AND  TRUSTEES, 


OF  THE 

FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  IN  WALL-STREET, 

At  whose  request  these  services  were  delivered  and  are  now  made  public, 
THEY  ARE  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED, 

By  their  Friend  and  Servant , 


New-York,  July  26th,  182t. 


THE  AUTHOR. 


A FUNERAL  SERMON 


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4 


JOHN  xi.  25. 

“ Jesus  said  unto  her,  I am  the  resurrection  and  the  life.” 

You  have  invited  me,  my  respected  friends,  to  a 
service  in  which  I feel  a deep  sympathy  with  you 
as  an  afflicted  people.  I know  the  heaviness  of 
your  hearts  at  the  death  of  your  beloved  minister. 
I may  not  now  open  these  sources  of  sorrow  afresh  : 
rather  would  I bind  up  these  broken  spirits,  and 
stanch  these  bleeding  wounds.  I have  stood  with 
you  by  the  side  of  yonder  vault,  and  there  seen  you 
deposit  the  lifeless  body  of  that  man  of  God  in  the 
house  appointed  for  all  the  living;  and  now,  though 
we  cannot  wipe  away  all  our  tears,  I would  go  out 
with  you  amid  these  adjacent  graves,  not  so  much 
to  mourn  and  weep,  as  to  be  comforted  and  rejoice. 

It  needs  but  a single  word  to  illustrate  the  original 
design  of  our  text.  During  the  days  of  his  humani- 
ty, our  divine  Lord  cultivated  a delightful  familiarity 
with  a particular  family  in  Bethany,  composed  of 
Lazarus  and  Mary,  and  her  sister  Martha.  Laza- 
rus appears  to  have  been  the  object  of  his  more 
ardent  attachment ; for  when  he  was  taken  sick,  his 
sisters  sent  unto  Jesus,  saying,  w Lord,  behold,  he 


4 


whom  tliou  lovest  is  sick.”  Jesus  knew  what  the  event 
of  this  sickness  would  be,  and  how  the  Son  of  God 
would  be  glorified  by  it.  After  having  remained 
two  days  still  in  the  same  place  where  he  was,  he 
said  to  his  disciples,  44  our  friend  Lazarus  sleepeth ; 
but  1 go  that  1 may  awake  him  out  of  sleep.”  Jesus 
spake  of  his  death  ; but  his  disciples  thought  that  he 
had  spoken  of  taking  rest  in  sleep.  Then  said  Jesus 
unto  them  plainly,  44  Lazarus  is  dead . And  I am  glad 
for  your  sakes  that  I was  not  there,  to  the  intent  ye 
may  believe : nevertheless,  let  us  go  unto  him.” 

No  sooner  had  Martha  heard  that  Jesus  was 
coming,  then  she  went  and  met  him,  and  with  strong 
emotion,  exclaimed,  44  Lord , if  thou  hadst  been  here , my 
brother  had  not  died.  But  I know  that  even  now , what- 
soever thou  wilt  ask  of  God , God  will  give  it  thee”  Jesus 
was  affected  with  this  interview,  and  said  unto  her, 
44  Thy  brother  shall  rise  again.”  Martha  saith  to  him, 
44  / know  that  he  shall  rise  again  in  the  resurrection  at  the 
last  day.”  Jesus  said  unto  her,  44  / am  the  resurrection 
and  the  life : he  that  believeth  in  me , though  he  were  dead \ 
yet  shall  he  live : and  ivhosoever  liveth  and  believeth  in  me , 
shall  never  die.”  In  this  declaration,  Martha  placed 
confidence,  and  was  comforted;  and  the  issue  of  the 
whole  w as,  that  Jesus  repaired  to  the  grave  where 
Lazarus  was  entombed,  raised  him  from  the  dead, 
and  restored  him  to  his  lately  weeping,  but  now 
happy  and  rejoicing  sisters. 

44 1 am  the  resurrection  and  the  life!” — Are  there 
no  sources  of  consolation  here,  that  may  convert  all 
the  gloom  of  this  mournful  scene  into  cheerfulness, 
and  all  its  sorrows  into  joy?  What  an  annunciation 
is  this  to  be  made  to  a w orld  of  sinners?  What  glad 
-tidings  are  these,  to  be  proclaimed  to  dying  men! 


5 


In  these  two  relations,  I propose  to  consider' the 
sentiment  of  our  text.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  resurrec- 
tion and  the  life  to  men,  in  the  first  place  as  sinners , 
and  in  the  second  place  as  dying  men. 

I.  He  is  the  resurrection  and  the  life  to. men,  as 
sinners. 

This  thought  relates  to  their  moral  or  spiritual  resur- 
rection. The  moral  nature  of  men  is  vitiated  and  dis- 
eased. Not  only  are  th ey  destitute  of  holiness,  but 
all  their  moral  affections  and  conduct  are  sinful. 
By  a very  strong  and  appropriate  figure,  in  which 
life  is  put  for  holiness  and  death  for  sin,  an  inspired 
apostle  has  affirmed,  that  they  are  44  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  sins,”  When  you  survey  the  native  cha- 
racter of  this  world’s  inhabitants,  you  behold  men 
who  are  physically  alive,  but  spiritually  dead;  their 
intellectual  and  animal  eye  is  open,  but  the  eye  of 
their  heart  is  closed ; their  bodily  senses  are  acute 
and  active,  but  their  moral  perception  is  obtuse  and 
torpid  as  a stone.  They  are  as  destitute  of  holiness 
as  a lifeless  corse.  They  are  dead  in  sin, — dead  by 
their  own  voluntary  act.  44  O Israel ! thou  hast  des- 
troyed thyself.”  W ith  all  the  premonitions  which 
the  God  of  heaven  has  given  them,  they  have  rushed 
on  their  own  sword ; have  plunged  the  dagger  into 
their  own  bosom,  and  with  the  few  remains  of  life 
they  possess,  have  locked  the  gates  of  the  grave  upon 
their  corrupted  spirit  for  ever.  Such  are  the  cha- 
racter and  condition  of  the  whole  family  of  man. — 
Melancholy  survey ! What  a sepulchre  is  here ! 
44  The  whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness.”  The  whole 
world  is  a vast  cemetery, not  of  putrescent  bodies,  but 


of  loathsome  spirits,  sunk  in  the  abyss  of  moral  cor- 
ruption, weltering  in  their  blood,  and  in  the  very 
grave  of  sin! 

Over  this  moral  sepulchre,  the  Son  of  Man  pro- 
claims, “ I am  the  resurrection  and  the  life  /”  His  voice 
alone  can  reach  these  gloomy  mansions.  Where  Je- 
sus has  not  bidden  the  stone  to  be  rolled  away  from 
the  sepulchre,  there,  to  the  present  hour,  is  nothing 
but  the  silence  of  the  dead.  No  means  nor  motives 
can  break  this  spiritual  bondage,  and  infuse  life  and 
activity  into  the  motionless  spirit.  As  well  might  you 
hope  to  see  the  tenant  of  the  grave  himself  bursting 
the  clods  that  cover  him  and  coming  forth,  as  a man 
dead  in  sin,  without  the  vital  energy  of  his  almighty 
voice,  shaking  off  the  slumbers  of  spiritual  death. 
The  world  has  seen  the  success  of  this  experiment 
for  six  thousand  years ; and  the  result  has  been,  that 
not  a living  man  has  been  roused  from  this  sullen  stu- 
pidity and  converted  to  holiness,  without  the  power 
of  Jesus  Christ.  We  may  challenge  the  records  of 
infidelity  and  false  religions, — nay,  we  may  challenge 
the  records  of  Christendom,  to  produce  an  instance 
of  moral  rectitude,  where  the  risen  Redeemer  has 
not  infused  the  life  of  God  into  the  soul,  and  where 
its  continuance  is  unsupported  by  the  aids  of  divine 
grace.  It  is  only  when  Jesus  speaks  that  these  deso- 
lations of  spiritual  death  are  repaired,  and  the  dead 
hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God  and  live. 

Many  a time,  and  with  an  aching  heart,  have  you 
surveyed  the  desolations  of  human  apostacy;  and 
the  survey  has  been  like  the  melancholy  vision  of  the 
prophet,  when  he  encompassed  the  valley  that  was 
full  of  bones.  It  was  a fearful  hour.  Not  a limb 
moved;  not  a voice  sighed  through  the  breeze.  It 


was  silent  as  the  grave,  and  every  thing  was  hung 
round  with  darkness  and  death.  And  many  a time 
have  you  stood  the  astonished  and  enraptured  be- 
holders,  while  the  ensigns  of  death  were  removed — 
while  the  darkness  was  dissipated  and  the  gloom 
chased  away — while  the  breathless  silence  was  dis- 
turbed, and  there  was  a noise,  and  behold  a shaking, 
and  the  bones  came  together,  bone  to  his  bone;  and 
when  you  beheld,  lo,  the  sinews  and  flesh  came  up 
upon  them,  and  the  skin  covered  them  from  above, 
and  breath  came  from  the  four  winds  upon  the  slain, 
and  they  lived.  Or,  to  drop  the  allegory,  many  a 
time  have  you  stood  in  silent  grief  over  the  waste 
places  of  Zion,  and  surveyed  an  assembly  of  ruined 
sinners,  where  no  relenting  moment  comes  across 
their  minds,  no  solemn  thought  of  jGod  and  eternity 
enters  their  bosoms,  no  anxious  sigh  is  wrung  from 
their  heart;  but  their  neck  is  an  iron  sinew,  and  their 
brow  brass.  And  you  have  beheld  when  those  bo- 
soms have  been  agitated  with  solicitude — when  those 
heads  have  been  bowed  low — when  those  eyes  have 
streamed  with  tears — when  those  lips  have  quivered 
with  agony — when  those  hearts  of  stone  have  been 
broken  and  become  hearts  of  flesh.  And  now,  that 
the  conflict  is  over,  you  have  seen  how  those  bosoms 
have  become  quiet  and  serene — how  those  heads 
have  been  lifted  up — those  eyes  beamed  with  joy — 
those  lips  glowed  with  praise — and  that  heart  which 
sunk  in  despair,  rejoiced  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God. 
And  when  you  inquire  into  the  cause  of  this  wonder- 
ful change,  you  learn  that  Jesus,  being  by  the  right 
hand  of  God  exalted,  hath  shed  forth  this,  w hich  you 
have  seen  and  heard.  Jesus,  by  the  omnipotent  ener- 
gy of  his  life-giving  spirit,  has  been  speaking  to  men 


8 


who  were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins.  By  the  omni- 
potent energy  of  his  own  Spirit,  he  has  been  assert- 
ing his  prerogative  as  the  resurrection  and  the  life — 
effecting  that  which  saints  could  not  effect  by  all 
their  prayers ; which  ministers  could  not  effect  by  all 
their  preaching;  which  the  greatest  mercies  and  the 
greatest  judgments  could  not  effect  by  all  their  combi- 
nation ; which  common  providences  and  special  pro- 
vidences could  not  effect  by  all  their  variety ; which 
wars,  earthquakes,  and  plagues  could  not  effect  by 
all  their  severity  and  terror;  but  which  his  own  so- 
vereign influence  can  effect,  as  easily  as  he  himself 
could  command,  “ Lazarus  come  forth,”  when  the 
chains  of  the  sepulchre  unloosed  their  victim,  and  all 
his  habiliments  of  death  were  laid  aside.  But  this 
leads  us  to  the  > 

II.  And  principal  thought  in  the  text,  which  is,  that 
Christ  is  the  resurrection  and  the  life  to  men,  as 
dying  men . 

This  thought  relates  to  their  natural  resurrection* 
or  the  resurrection  of  the  body . Natural  death  is  the 
consequence  of  spiritual.  We  see  how  mankind, 
from  generation  to  generation,  descend  to  the  tomb. 
It  is  not  easy  to  describe  the  sensations  of  commin- 
gled gloom,  curiosity,  and  terror,  as  we  trace  out 
the  tedious  and  mournful  circuits  of  some  venerable 
cemetery,  or  wander  over  the  desolations  which,  for 
untold  centuries,  death  has  made  in  this  apostate 
creation.  But  what  must  be  the  sensations  of  those, 
who,  in  the  distant  and  last  ages  of  time,  discover 
not  merely  here  and  there  a populous  grave-yard, 
but  behold  this  globe  itself,  one  mighty  sepulchre? 


9 


Over  what  an  extended  empire  will  Death  then  main- 
tain his  undisturbed  dominion ! 

And  will  the  period  ev.er  arrive  when  this  long  slum- 
ber of  the  tomb  shall  pass  away  ? Will  that  day  ever 
dawn  on  the  earth  on  which  these  graves  will  open— 
these  tombs  burst  asunder — these  cemeteries  be  empti- 
ed— this  universal  charnel-house  heave  as  by  a tre- 
mendous earthquake,  and  give  up  its  dead  ? Blessed 
be  God,  that  problems  of  such  interest  are  of  no  diffi- 
cult solution.  Wherever  time  has  demolished,  the 
resurrection  shall  revive.  Wherever  death  has  been 
the  conqueror,  death  himself  shall  be  swallowed  up 
in  victory.  The  announcement  made  by  our  blessed 
Lord,  on  his  way  to  the  grave  of  Lazarus,  has 
travelled  down  the  descent  of  time  in  undiminished 
verity,  and  conveys  its  consolations  to  us,  as  truly  as 
to  the  weeping  woman,  to  whom  they  were  first 
addressed. 

The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  has  not  always 
been  accredited  by  the  wisdom  and  philosophy  of 
this  world.  Among  wise  and  learned  pagans,  some 
believed,  and  others  considered  it  supremely  fabu- 
lous. The  Epicureans,  the  Stoics,  the  Platonists, 
the  Pythagoreans,  and  even  the  Sadducees  among 
the  Jews,  all  either  rejected,  or  entertained  very 
confused  ideas  concerning  it.  And  w*ell  they  might, 
so  long  as  they  rested  the  evidence  of  such  a fact 
upon  the  analogies  of  nature,  the  suggestions  of  un- 
aided reason,  or  the  traditions  of  men. 

The  analogies  of  nature  are  not  indeed  silent 
When  we  see  the  morning  gradually  breaking  from 
the  tomb  of  midnight,  and  diffusing  its  cheering  light 
over  men ; when  we  see  nature  emerging  from  her 
wintry  grave  of  silence  and  desolation,  into  re- 

B 


10 


suscitated  life  and  beauty;  when  we  see  the  cor- 
rupted and  putrescent  grain  bursting  the  clod  that 
covers  it,  and  lifting  its  prolific  stalk  above  the 
ground;  when  we  see  the  meanest  reptile  burying 
itself  in  unobserved  retirement,  that  it  may  come 
forth  into  existence  with  new  life,  awake  with  new 
powers,  and  fly  through  the  heavens  in  new  splen- 
dour : a contemplative  mind  is  ready  to  ask,  Is  there 
no  mighty  voice  that  shall  break  the  silence  of  the 
grave,  and  once  more  inspirit  the  mansions  of  the 
dead  ? Is  there  no  breath  of  heaven  that  shall  brood 
over  those  dark  abodes,  and  renew  the  life,  and  re- 
store the  vigour  of  that  moral  creation,  whose  infancy 
was  barely  awakened  into  existence,  in  the  present 
world?  Is  mortal  man  the  only  being  doomed  to 
be  the  perpetual  tenant  of  the  tomb  ? 

The  suggestions  of  unaided  reason  are  not  silent. 
Since  the  body  and  the  soul,  at  their  original  cre- 
ation, constituted  one  entire  being,  it  is  not  unrea- 
sonable to  suppose,  that  when  the  shock  of  disso- 
lution is  past,  the  period  will  arrive  when  this  un- 
diminished existence  will  live  anew,  and  the  endeared 
companionship  become  un wasting  and  immortal. 
The  idea  of  a future  and  everlasting  state  of  retribu- 
tion seems  more  naturally  to  involve  than  deny  the 
future  existence  of  the  body  as  well  as  the  soul. 

The  traditions  of  men  are  not  silent ; for  there  are 
not  wanting  those  whose  darkness  was  never  illumin- 
ed by  the  direct  rays  of  revelation,  who  have  em- 
bodied in  their  creed  some  indistinct  conceptions  of 
the  revivification  of  the  body. 

But  all  these  are  rather  the  confused  images  of  a 
gratified  fancy,  than  the  clear  deductions  of  sober 
reason.  The  resurrection  of  the  dead  stands  con- 


11 


fessed  as  one  of  the  distinguished  peculiarities  of 
revealed  religion.  We  repose  our  entire  and  un- 
alterable confidence  in  this  glorious  truth,  in  the 
simple  testimony  of  that  God  who  44  cannot  lie.” — 44 1 
know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth,  and  that  he  shall 
stand  at  the  latter  day  upon  the  earth : And  though 
after  my  skin,  worms  destroy  this  body,  yet  in  my 
flesh  shall  1 see  God.”  The  Lord  God  44  will  swallow 
up  death  in  victory.”  44 1 will  ransom  them  from  the 
power  of  the  grave ; I will  redeem  them  from  death. 
Oh  death ! I will  be  thy  plague ; Oh  grave ! I will  be 
thy  destruction.”  44  Thy  dead  men  shall  live ; my  dead 
body  shall  arise.  Awake,  and  sing,  ye  that  dwell  in 
dust,  for  thy  dew  is  as  the  dew  of  herbs,  and  the  earth 
shall  cast  out  the  dead.” 

The  force  of  the  testimony  in  favour  of  the  resur- 
rection lies  in  that  capital  fact  and  that  finished  tes- 
timony of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth, — 
his  own  resurrection  from  the  dead,  on  the  third  day 
after  his  crucifixion.  44  If  Christ  be  preached,  that 
he  rose  from  the  dead,  how  say  some  among  you,  that 
there  is  no  resurrection  of  the  dead  ? If  there  be  no 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  then  is  not  Christ  risen.  But 
now  is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead,  and  become  the  first 
fruits  of  them  that  slept.  F or  since  by  man  came  death, 
by  man  also  came  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  For  as 
in  Adam,  all  die,  so  in  Christ,  shall  all  be  made  alive.” 
Hence  the  apostles  44  preached  through  Jesus,  the  re- 
surrection from  the  dead.”  44  For  if  we  believe  that 
Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even  so  them  also,  which 
sleep  in  Jesus,  will  God  bring  with  him.”  44  To  this 
end,  he  both  died,  and  rose,  and  revived,  that  he 
might  be  Lord  both  of  the  dead  and  the  living.” — As 
the  constituted  King  and  Lord  of  all  worlds,  the  Me- 


12 


diator  himself  announces,  64 1 am  he  that  liveth  and 
was  dead,  and  behold,  I am  alive  for  evermore,  and 
have  the  keys  of  death  and  the  grave.”  By  virtue  of 
this  exaltation,  already  has  he  raised  multitudes  from 
the  dead,  as  the  evidence  both  of  his  power,  and  his 
purpose ; and  we  know  he  will  continue  to  reign  44  till 
all  enemies  shall  be  put  under  his  feet,”  and  that  the 
44  last  enemy  that  shall  b&  destroyed  is  death.” 

With  regard  to  the  circumstances  of  the  resurrection 
we  possess  some  explicit  information. 

It  will  be  universal.  44  All  that  are  in  the  grave  shall 
hear  his  voice.”  44  There  will  be  a resurrection  both 
of  the  just  and  the  unjust.”  44  The  sea  shall  give  up 
the  dead  which  are  in  it,  and  death  and  hell  shall  de- 
liver up  the  dead  which  are  in  them.” 

It  will  be  successive.  44  But  every  man  in  his  own 
order  : Christ  the  first  fruits ; afterward,  they  that  are 
Christ’s  at  his  coming.”  44  Blessed  and  holy  is  he  that 
hath  part  in  the  first  resurrection : on  such  the  second 
death  hath  no  power.”  44  The  dead  in  Christ,”  or  all 
the  godly  who  have  died  antecedently  to  the  last  day, 
44  shall  rise  first ;”  then  44  they  which  are  alive  on  the 
earth  at  his  coming”  shall 44  be  changed and  then 
all  the  wicked  shall  follow. 

It  will  take  place  upon  a given  signal, — the  com- 
mand of  Jesus  Christ.  44  All  that  are  in  the  grave  shall 
hear  his  voice.”  44  We  shall  not  all  sleep  but  we  shall 
all  be  changed,  in  a moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye,  at  the  last  trump,  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound.” 
44  The  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven  with 
the  voice  of  the  archangel  and  the  trump  of  God.” 

It  shall  take  place  at  the  last  great  day.  44 1 
know,”  says  his  doubting  sister  concerning  Laza- 
rus, 44  that  he  shall  rise  again  in  the  resurrection 


13 


at  the  last  day.”  This  is  the  will  of  my  Father, 
that  of  all  that  he  hath  given  me,  I should  lose 
nothing,  but  should  raise  it  up  at  the  last  day.” — 
Not  until  the  close  of  time,  when  the  world  shall  be 
ripe  for  the  final  harvest,  and  the  character  of  every 
individual  of  the  human  family  definitely  formed  and 
prepared  for  the  final  decision,  will  the  summons  go 
forth,  the  trumpet  sound,  and  the  dead  be  raised. 

As  to  the  condition  of  the  resurgent  body , several  par- 
ticulars are  also  disclosed. 

It  will  be  essentially  the  same  body  that  was  depo- 
sited in  the  grave.  The  idea  of  a resurrection  implies 
the  restoration  of  the  same  body  that  once  lived  on  the 
earth.  The  scriptures  furnish  no  countenance  to  the 
chilling  thought  of  a literal  annihilation  in  the  grave. 
It  is  not  a second  creation  of  which  they  speak,  but  a 
resurrection,  by  which  the  animal  frame  is  restored  to 
life  and  activity,  and  reunited  to  its  own  sensitive  and 
life-giving  spirit.  The  same  percipient  and  intellec- 
tual being  lives,  that  lived  before  the  separation  of 
the  soul  and  body  at  death.  God  can  form  the  re- 
surgent body  so  as  to  make  everyone  conscious  that 
when  raised  from  the  dead,  he  has  the  same  personal 
identity  he  had  in  the  present  world.  It  is  the  same 
body  that  is  born,  that  dies ; and  the  same  that  dies, 
that  shall  rise  again.  Hence  the  Scriptures  iden- 
tify the  resurgent  body  with  unerring  precision 
44  This  corruption  shall  put  on  incorruption.”  The 
very  design  of  the  resurrection  also  demonstrates  the 
identity  of  the  body  that  slept  with  that  which  rises  : 
— it  is,  that 44  every  one  may  receive  the  things  done 
in  his  body,  according  to  that  he  hath  done.”  All  the 
examples  of  a resurrection  which  are  on  record, 
— the  body  of  Christ,  and  the  bodies  of  those  who 


14 


came  out  of  their  graves  at  his  resurrection,  and 
which  are  set  forth  as  the  pledge  and  first  fruits  of  the 
resurrection  at  the  end  of  time,  confirm  and  substan- 
tiate the  idea,  that  the  same  body  rises  which  died. 

But  while  the  bodies  of  men  at  the  resurrection, 
will  possess  their  essential  identity,  they  will  in  many 
respects  be  greatly  changed.  While  here  on  earth, 
they  were  constituted  merely  as  a temporary  resi- 
dence for  their  immortal  inhabitant,  and  participated 
in  the  evils  incident  to  a vale  of  tears.  But  after  the 
resurrection,  they  will  be  constituted  altogether  for 
another  state  of  existence.  The  chaos  and  darkness 
which  inhabited  the  grave,  will  then  be  lighted  up  in- 
to life,  light,  order,  and  beauty. 

It  is  affecting  to  know  when  the  bodies  of  men  are 
deposited  in  the  grave,  they  are  deposited  a mass  of 
corruption . Disease  corrupts  and  not  unfrequently  al- 
most dissolves  the  human  frame,  before  the  tide  of 
life  ceases  to  flow.  And  no  sooner  does  it  cease  to 
flow,  than  the  form  once  so  fair  and  beautiful  becomes 
rottenness  and  death.  We  enshroud  it  in  some  has- 
ty covering  and  hurry  it  away  from  the  abodes  of 
men ; and  lest  it  should  offend  or  corrupt  the  living, 
dig  deep  in  the  earth,  and  leave  it  there  among  the 
clods  of  the  valley.  But  though  u sown  in  corruption , 
it  is  raised  in  incorruption .”  When  the  voice  of  the 
archangel  and  the  trump  of  God  shall  reach  the  re- 
ceptacle of  the  dead,  that  corrupted  dust  shall  be 
reproduced  and  re-embodied,  and  come  forth  never 
again  to  decay.  Disease  shall  not  invade,  infir- 
mity shall  not  waste,  corruption  shall  not  destroy  it : 
but  it  shall  rise  to  become  the  inhabitant  of  an  un- 
corrupted,  incorruptible  world,  and  bloom  for  ever 
in  regions  of  living  immortality. 


15 


It  is  affecting  to  see,  when  the  bodies  of  men  are 
committed  to  the  dust,  what  dishonour  is  cast  upon 
these  tabernacles  of  clay.  Once  they  were  cherish- 
ed and  beloved ; once  they  sparkled  in  the  circles  of 
gaiety  and  splendour;  once  they  commanded  res- 
pect and  admiration.  But  now  their  lustre  is  passed 
away.  Their  loveliness  is  fled.  All  that  is  due  them 
is  to  give  them  a place  where  “ the  worm  shall  feed 
sweetly  on  them.”  O ! this  is  a most  humiliating  re- 
flection. When  you  visit  the  grave-yard,  and  behold 
one  after  another  with  cold  and  unmeaning  ceremo- 
ny consigned  to  its  bosom ; or  when  you  see  the  heed- 
less hearse  bearing  away  its  daily  load ; or  when 
perhaps  away  from  the  decencies  of  Christian  lands, 
you  see  the  bodies  of  men  launched  from  the  com- 
mon cart  in  heaps  into  the  earth,  or  thrown  into  the 
public  sewer,  or  cast  upon  the  funeral  pile;  how 
deeply  you  feel  the  thought, 44 It  is  sown  in  dishonour!” 
But 44  though  sown  in  dishonour,  it  is  raised  in  glory.” 
All  its  ignominy  and  reproach  are  wiped  away  in  the 
grave.  F rom  that  abyss  of  infamy  it  rises  in  beauty, 
brightness,  and  splendour,  and  is  fashioned — what 
shall  I say  ? — *“  like  unto  Christ’s  glorious  body.”— 
44  There  is  one  glory  of  the  sun,  and  another  glory  of 
the  moon,  and  another  glory  of  the  stars ; for  one 
star  differeth  from  another  star  in  glory.  So  also  is 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead.” 

It  is  affecting  when  you  stand  at  the  mouth  of  the 
sepulchre  to  witness  the  weakness , the  death,  the  clod- 
like inertness  of  the  body,  when  it  slumbers  with  the 
dead.  Once  it  was  life,  motion,  sprightliness,  and 
activity ; but  what  is  it  now  ? A corpse,  a skull,  a 
skeleton,  a mere  collection  of  motionless  dust.  But, 
what 44  is  sown  in  weakness,  is  raised  in  power.”  That 


Id 


primitive  and  youthful  vigour,  that  activity  and  ani- 
mation shall  all  be  revived,  and  continue  undiminish- 
ed and  unwasted  to  interminable  ages.  Then,  and 
not  till  then,  shall  that  proud  label  be  imprinted  on 
the  human  form,  which  the  doating  affections  and 
lying  imaginations  of  men  have  prematurely  impress- 
ed on  it,  44  always  new,  and  ever  young.” 

It  is  affecting  when  we  enclose  this  body  in  the 
tomb,  to  see  how  all  the  tendencies  of  the  human 
frame  are  irresistibly  toward  dissolution.  It  is  44  a 
natural  body.”  It  does  not  diminish  the  pensiveness 
of  the  reflection  to  say,  that  such  is  the  course  of  all 
things  in  the  natural  world.  This  is  the  very  fact 
which  gives  birth  to  our  sorrows,  that  the  bodies  fos- 
tered with  so  much  tenderness  and  care  should  par- 
take of  the  universal  decay,  and  themselves  become 
undistinguished  from  the  ruins  that  surround  them. 
But  in  the  resurrection,  all  these  tendencies  to  decay 
shall  be  converted  into  active  sources  of  life  and  im- 
mortality. 44  It  is  sown  a natural  body,  it  is  raised  a 
spiritual  body.”  There  is  a natural  body,  and  there 
is  a spiritual  body.  What  is  the  nature  of  spiritual 
bodies,  it  would  be  presumption  jn  us  to  describe. 
That  they  will  possess  the  same  senses  and  the  same 
organs  which  a natural  body  possesses,  seems  at  least 
probable,  but  is  not  for  us  to  determine.  That  they 
will  be  capable  both  of  pleasure  and  pain,  and 
that  to  an  intense  degree,  can  scarcely  admit  of  a 
doubt.  They  shall  be  spiritual  bodies,  fitted  for  a spi- 
ritual residence,  a spiritual  employment,  a spiritual 
eternity. 

And  must  we  interrupt  this  course  of  pleasing  re- 
flection, for  the  sake  of  specifying  another  particular 
in  the  condition  of  the  resurgent  body?  I would 


17 


feign  suppress  it ; but  from  the  deep  solemnities  of  the 
world  to  which  the  preacher  and  the  hearers  are 
hastening,  I hear  a voice,  “ Say  to  the  righteous,  it 
shall  be  well  with  him ; say  to  the  wicked,  it  shall 
be  ill  with  him.”  The  bodies  of  the  righteous,  and 
the  bodies  of  the  wicked,  rise  to  widely  different  allot- 
ments. “ The  hour  is  coming,  in  the  which  all  that  are 
in  the  grave  shall  hear  his  voice,  and  come  forth ; 
they  that  have  done  good  unto  the  resurrection  of  life, 
and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto  the  resurrection  of 
damnation.”  All  shall  rise,  spiritual,  immortal,  en- 
dued with  capacities  for  happiness  and  misery,  that 
are  new  and  exquisite ; but  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  shall  then  be 
drawn  for  ever,  and  the  undiminished  difference  will 
be  as  wide,  as  deep,  as  everlasting,  as  the  God  of 
truth  designs  to  define  it,  when  he  says,  the  one  shall 
be  the  resurrection  of  life , the  other  the  resurrection  of 
damnation. 

Lamentable  and  lamented  change  to  those  who 
die  in  their  sins  ! Blessed,  thrice  blessed  change 
to  those  who  die  in  the  Lord ! It  is  a privilege  to 
live,  a privilege  to  die,  a privilege  to  go  down  to  the 
grave,  thus  to  rise.  There  is  no  more  gloomy  spec- 
tacle than  that  which  is  presented  in  the  mansions 
of  the  dead;  and  none  more  glorious  than  the  as- 
sured prospect  of  such  a resurrection.  When  this 
long  night  of  death  shall  pass  away,  what  spot  on 
the  face  of  the  globe  will  present  to  our  enraptured 
admiration,  a view  so  grand  and  beautified,  as  some 
densely  populated  grave-yard  ! Even  now,  the  an- 
ticipation gilds  those  gloomy  regions  with  light  and 
joy.  We  love  to  go  out  amid  that  apparently  un- 
cheering scenery,  and  mark  its  prospective  glories. 

c 


18 


We  involuntarily  throw  our  thoughts  forward,  and 
mingle  in  the  joys  of  that  morning,  when  over  the 
tomb  of  this  departed  world  Jesus  shall  announce, 
44  I am  the  resurrection  and  the  life!”  The  gloom  of  the 
spot  on  which  we  tread,  passes  away  as  we  antici- 
pate the  hour,  when  all  that  are  in  the  grave  shall 
hear  his  voice  and  come  forth ; when  this  corrupti- 
ble shall  put  on  incorruption,  this  mortal  shall  put 
on  immortality,  and  the  saying  shall  be  brought  to 
pass,  44  death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory .” 

It  is  with  some  such  sentiments  as  these,  my  re- 
spected friends,  that  we  come  to-day,  to  pay  our 
last  visit  to  the  tomb  of  your  respected  and  beloved 
minister.  We  have  wept  with  you  in  your  loss,  and 
we  now  rejoice  with  him  in  his  gain.  How  precious 
the  thought,  now  that  we  have  committed  his  breath- 
less body  to  the  grave,  to  know  that  he  shall  live 
again ! Nor  is  this  the  only  thought  that  brings 
peace  to  our  bosoms.  44  The  memory  of  the  just  is 
blessed.”  The  fragrance  of  his  good  name  embalms 
the  air  I breathe,  and  consecrates  the  place  I occupy. 
The  occasion  seems  to  require  some  biographical 
notice  of  our  departed  brother.  It  will  not  be  ex- 
pected that  I should  more  than  briefly  survey  a large 
field,  with  all  the  special  subdivisions  of  which  you 
are  as  well  acquainted  as  myself.  While  I note  a 
few  occurrences  in  his  life,  it  is  far  from  my  inten- 
tion to  turn  the  narrative  into  mere  eulogy.  Eulogy 
is  not  needed  in  the  presence  of  this  congregation ; 
it  is  not  needed  in  the  presence  of  God,  who  has 
already  finally  reviewed  all  the  events  of  our  bro- 
ther’s life. 

The  Reverend  Philip  Melancthon  Whelpley  was 
the  son  of  the  Reverend  Samuel  Whelpley , a respecta- 


19 


ble  clergyman  in  the  commonwealth  of  Massachu- 
setts. He  was  remarkable  from  the  first  dawning 
of  his  boyhood,  for  an  early  maturity  of  talent,  from 
which  his  friends  augured  the  happiest  consequences* 
His  avidity  for  knowledge  and  taste  in  the  selection 
of  its  purest  sources,  were  observable  at  an  age  when 
other  boys  are  usually  governed  by  instinct  and  animal 
feeling  only.  His  aspirations  after  excellence  were 
as  ardent  as  they  were  laudable;  and  it  was  evident 
to  all  observers,  that  he  was  to  be  a scholar  and  a 
man  of  literature,  whatever  else  time  might,  or  might 
not  make  of  him.  No  unpropitious  circumstances 
could  repress  his  spirit  of  inquiry — no  other  avoca- 
tions prevent  his  mingling  with  the  learned  who  had 
left  their  intellect  at  least,  enshrined  and  vocal  in 
the  temple  of  human  science.  I might  indulge  my- 
self at  large  upon  this  portion  of  his  character  and 
history,  if  every  thing  of  this  sort,  in  this  solemn 
moment,  did  not  seem  to  me  comparatively  worth- 
less. 

The  natural  disposition  of  our  departed  friend  was 
singularly  composed,  and  well  balanced ; his  tem- 
perament full  of  kindness ; his  heart  true  and  firm 
in  his  attachments;  and  his  feelings  adm  rably  regu- 
lated towards  those  who  differed  from  him  in  judg- 
ment, and  who  in  the  cross  currents  of  this  life, 
might  run  counter  to  him,  as  he  was  steadily  pursu- 
ing the  path  of  apparent  duty.  The  Apostle  Paul 
notes  the  want  of  natural  affection  among  the  highest 
crimes.  In  our  brother,  the  ardour  and  faithfulness 
of  natural  affection  were  in  the  highest  degree  ob- 
servable; and  were  it  proper,  I could  here  refer  to 
facts  which  evince  a filial  sentiment,  that  are  rarely 
surpassed. 


20 


But  the  place  in  which  I stand  warns  me  against 
dwelling  upon  what  are  at  best  but  mortal  character- 
istics. I hasten  to  speak  of  what  defined  his  charac- 
ter in  the  sight  of  God,  and  stamped  it  with  excel- 
lence for  eternity.  Religiously  brought  up  as  he 
was  from  his  infancy,  his  training  led  to  more  than  a 
quick  moral  sense,  until  about  his  eighteenth  year, 
when  God  w as  pleased  to  send  his  law  in  its  power, 
as  a sharp  sword  into  his  heart,  and  he  became 
under  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richards , in  New- 
ark, the  subject  of  pungent  and  lasting  convictions. 
I have  heard  him  speak  of  this  period,  and  these 
convictions,  with  a modesty  and  diffidence  that  were 
most  exemplary  arid  gratifying.  In  a revival  of  reli- 
gion in  the  first  congregation  in  that  town,  which 
took  place  shortly  after  this,  he  found  that  the  Lord 
was  nigh,  not  only  to  convict  and  to  bruise,  but  also 
to  pardon  and  heal;  and,  as  he  humbly  hoped,  he 
then  submitted  himself  to  the  righteousness  of  God 
as  a sinner,  and  sought  and  found  mercy  in  the  Re- 
deemer. His  evidences  of  conversion  were  ample, 
and  he  was  received  into  the  communion  of  that 
church  a few  months  after. 

From  this  period,  his  friends  earnestly  desired 
the  consecration  of  his  talents  to  the  work  of  the 
ministry;  a d the  spirit  of  God.  as  we  believe,  made 
him  feel,  44  wo  is  me,  if  I preach  not  the  Gospel.”  He 
pursued  the  necessary  preparatory  studies,  and  was 
licensed  to  preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  Jersey  at 
the  early  age  of  nineteen. 

It  was  among  his  earnest  wishes  at  this  time,  to  de- 
vote himself  to  the  work  of  a missionary  of  Christ 
into  foreign  lands.  A lively  zeal  possessed  him  to 
bear  the  standard  of  the  cross  far  away  into  the  lands 


21 


of  the  aliens,  to  bring  them  under  the  saving  domi- 
nion of  his  Lord.  With  a happy  emulation  of  the 
example  of  Brainerd , he  would  have  prayed  to  be- 
come a star,  where  the  wilderness  embosoms  in  its 
darkness  the  path  of  life,  and  the  tomb  of  death  to 
its  wandering  inhabitants.  But  the  providence  of 
God  set  up  insuperable  obstacles  to  the  fulfilment  of 
these  wishes,  and  led  him  to  make  his  first  essays  in 
the  w ork  of  a minister  of  Christ  in  the  spot  where  I 
now  stand.  He  was  then  not  twenty  years  of  age? 
and  you  remember  the  enchanting  appearance  of  his 
youth,  the  gracefulness  of  his  manner,  the  elegance 
of  his  diction,  the  melody  of  his  voice,  and  the  elo- 
quence of  his  thought.  For  myself,  I must  confess  I 
have  never  known  the  man  who  filled  the  sacred  desk 
with  more  propriety  than  he  filled  it,  or  who  in  the 
judgment  of  an  intelligent  and  refined  auditory,  was 
more  deservedly  popular. 

You  soon  selected  him  to  be  your  pastor.  He 
came  a stripling  into  this  most  arduous  field  with  on- 
ly the  God  of  David  for  his  sufficient  support.  The 
rest  you  know.  You  know  all  the  trials  of  his  life, 
the  circuit  of  his  labour,  the  measure  of  his  success. 
But  you  do  not  know  the  tears  with  which  his  couch 
has  been  watered,  while  he  lamented  over  such  mul- 
titudes who  rejected  his  message : while  he  bewailed 
the  lethargy  of  professors  of  Christ’s  name  among 
you.  while  he  saw  evils  he  could  not  remedy,  and 
poisons  circulating  which  he  knew  must  kill.  You 
can  never  know  to  the  true  extent,  how  his  heart  rose 
in  inexpressible  emotion,  when  he  felt  the  weight  of 
his  responsibility,  and  saw  so  many  in  this  ancient 
fortress  of  the  faith,  in  the  condition  of  the  church  at 
Laodicea.  and  liable  to  the  same  commination.  At 


length  it  pleased  God  to  hear  his  prayer,  and  about 
two  years  since,  there  was  a partial  out-pouring  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  upon  this  people,  over  which  we  trust 
there  was  joy  in  heaven.  But  the  harvest  was  short. 
The  season  and  approach  of  yellow  fever  turned  this 
part  of  our  city  into  a desolation,  and  when  the  time 
of  labour  returned,  the  soil  had  hardened,  and  little 
fruit  was  subsequently  reaped  from  all  the  seed  that 
was  sown.  Still,  he  spiritual  interests  of  this  church 
daily  improved,  and  your  pastor  became  more  abun- 
dant in  labours  Since  that  time  until  he  was  sud- 
denly arrested,  the  concern  of  his  friends  and  the  ad- 
vice of  his  physician  could  not  restrain  him  from 
working  while  it  was  called  to-day.  He  has  answer- 
ed already  for  the  manner,  you  are  yet  to  answer  for 
the  effect  of  those  labours. 

But  I hasten  to  the  last  weeks  of  his  life.  In  the 
month  of  March  he  unexpectedly  ruptured  a blood 
vessel,  and  the  hemorrhage  wras  so  great  that  his 
life  w as  considered  in  immediate  danger.  He  gra- 
dually recovered  so  as  to  be  able  to  take  a journey, 
but  the  eventual  consequence  of  this  affliction  we  now’ 
deplore.  His  mind  was  singularly  calm  from  the  first 
moment  in  view  of  his  probable  departure.  His  ap- 
prehension of  the  saving  power  of  the  doctrines  he 
had  inculcated  was  unclouded,  and  his  confidence 
in  Christ,  our  righteousness  and  strength,  unshaken. 

During  the  few  days  just  before  his  death,  he  con- 
tinued to  express  himself  with  unabated  hope  in  the 
fountain  of  mercy  which  Christ  has  opened  by  his 
own  blood.  When  apprised  of  his  immediate  dan- 
ger, he  said,  46  his  owm  hopes  of  recovery  had  been 
feeble;”  and  when  questioned  as  to  his  present  views 
of  this  world  and  the  next,  he  said,  that  u though  he 


could  not  boast  of  an  unusual  share  of  animal  cou- 
rage, yet  he  feared  not  the  approach  of  death,  if  his 
labours  were  ended.”  At  this  period  his  mind  ap- 
peared more  than  ever  to  be  tenderly  exercised  for 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  charge.  He  remarked 
that  “if  it  were  given  to  him  to  see  the  Spirit  of  God 
once  poured  out  upon  this  church,  and  could  be  in  st 
frame  of  mind  suitable  to  it  for  a season,  then  he 
could  gladly  depart.”  Upon  being  asked  in  what  pe- 
culiar aspect  the  heavenly  world  appeared  to  him 
now,  and  what  encouraged  his  hopes,  he  remarked, 
that  “the  God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father 
of  glory  made  known  the  hope  of  his  calling,  and  the 
riches  of  the  glory  of  his  inheritance  in  the  saints  and 
his  mighty  power  which  he  wrought  in  Christ  when 
he  raised  him  from  the  dead,  and  set  him  at  his  own 
right  hand  in  the  heavenly  places.”  Among  his  dy- 
ing exercises,  the  reading  a portion  of  the  14th  chap- 
ter of  John’s  gospel  had  a place;  and  he  again 
said,  “ he  had  no  desire  to  remain,  if  his  work  was 
concluded.” 

Upon  being  asked  three  days  before  his  death,  as 
to  fhe  clearness  of  his  views  and  hopes,  he  communi- 
cated, that  although  his  mind  was  not  filled  with  any 
distressing  doubts,  yet  he  had  not  that  fulness  of 
consolation  which  he  desired.”  But  the  shadows 
gradually  departed  as  he  approached  the  light  of 
eternity,  until  toward  the  close  of  life  he  used  the 
strong  language,  that  “ he  had  not  a doubt”  Among 
his  last  expressions,  he  was  heard  to  say,  “ The  Lord 
Jesus  is  near.  The  will  of  the  Lord  be  done  !” 

His  patience  in  his  sufferings  was  wonderful ; and 
the  most  delightful  humility  characterised  his  dying 
thoughts.  Indeed  this  humility — this  meek,  submis- 


24 


sive  frame  of  soul — this  child -like  receiving  the  pre- 
cious consolations  of  the  gospel  and  foretastes  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  are  particularly  to  be  noticed. 
He  spoke  of  his  “ own  unworthiness  as  a sinner” — of 
the  44  great  imperfection  with  which  he  had  served 
his  Master,”  in  most  affecting  terms ; but  said  his 
“desire  was  rather  to  depart,  if  it  were  God's  will.” 

He  retained  his  consciousness,  and  the  perfect  ex- 
ercise of  his  faculties  to  the  last  instant  of  time  that 
the  soul  inhabited  its  clay ; and  the  love  of  Christ, 
and  peace  of  God,  and  light  of  heaven  rested  on 
him  with  increasing  brightness  to  the  latest  mo- 
ment. 

When  he  took  his  farewell  of  his  babe,  and  could 
do  no  more  than  lay  his  hand  upon  it,  with  strong 
emotion  he  uttered, 44  God  be  his  father  for  ever  and 
for  ever!”  And  when  he  parted  with  his  wife  and 
could  no  longer  speak,  he  took  her  hand  and  pressed 
it,  and  pointed  with  the  other  to  heaven. — And  thus 
he  died ! 

Yes,  thus  he  departed  in  the  30th  year  of  his  age, 
leaving  a wife  and  two  children,  a numerous  circle  of 
relatives  and  friends,  a beloved  church  and  congre- 
gation, to  bleed  at  the  heart  at  each  remembrance  of 
his  removal.  God  grant  his  blessing  and  guidance 
to  the  two  little  ones,  before  whom  in  the  course  of 
life,  all  dangers  and  trials  stand ! May  the  end  show 
that  the  bosom  of  the  church  and  the  rest  which 
Christ  hath  purchased  remain  for  them! 

But  enough  of  this  interesting  and  melancholy  re- 
view. However  precious  his  memory,  his  excellen- 
cies as  a man,  and  a minister  of  the  gospel,  do  but 
embitter  the  cup  which  our  heavenly  Father  calls  us 


25 


to  drink.  44  The  Lord  gave  and  the  Lord  hath  taken 
away,  and  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord !” 

I wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  utter  a few  thoughts 
of  effective  condolence  to  the  bereaved  family  and 
relatives  of  our  separated  brother.  I know,  my  friends, 
you  weep  and  mourn.  If  the  results  of  this  visita- 
tion had  been  committed  to  us,  we  ^ertainly  should 
have  ordered  them  otherwise.  But  you  have  not 
now  to  learn  that  they  have  been  ordered  by  wisdom 
and  goodness  infinitely  superior  to  ours.  Our  de- 
parted brother  had  lived  long  enough  to  accomplish 
the  great  end  of  living — to  make  his  peace  with  God 
and  lay  hold  on  eternal  life — to  finish  the  work  God 
had  given  him  to  do.  And  why  should  you  either 
outwardly  murmur,  or  inwardly  complain  ?.  Y ou  may 
not  44  sorrow  even  as  others  which  have  no  hope ; 
for  if  you  believe  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  even 
so  them  also  which  sleep  in  Jesus,  will  God  bring  with 
him.”  Say  not  that  endeared  form  is  lost  for  ever 
because  it  is  enshrouded  in  yonder  vault.  Jesus 
44  hath  abolished  death,  and  brought  life  and  immor- 
tality to  light  through  the  gospel.”  He  shall  live 
again.  In  a little  while  he  shall  come  forth  incor- 
ruptible and  immortal.  Say  not,  no  voice  of  conso- 
lation issues  from  the  tomb.  The  separation  will  be 
short.  The  grave  is  the  house  appointed  for  all  the 
living;  and  you  too  in  a little  time  will  rest  with  him  be- 
neath the  bosom  of  the  ground,  and  if  you  die  in  Jesus, 
will,  we  hope,  with  him  be  introduced  to  an  uncorrupt- 
ed and  brighter  world.  It  were  enough  that  you  pos- 
sess a source  of  unutterable  consolation  in  the  wisdom 
and  goodness  of  the  Great  Supreme,  manifested  not 
less  in  this,  than  milder  dispensations.  But  you  have 
more.  You  have  a source  of  consolation,  which  the 


D 


world  can  neither  give  nor  take  away,  in  the  thought 
that  he  who  has  but  a little  preceded  you,  possessed  a 
good  hope  through  grace,  that  he  had  found  “ ac- 
ceptance in  the  beloved;”  that  while  he  felt  “the 
earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  dissolving,  he  had  a 
building  of  God,  an  house  not  made  with  hands,  eter- 
nal in  the  heavens.”  We  can  only  commit  you  to  the 
benediction  of  “Tiis  Father  and  our  Father,  his  God 
and  our  God,”  imploring  that  all  needed  consola- 
tions may  be  made  to  “ abound  toward  you  by  Jesus 
Christ !” 

To  this  bereaved  church  and  congregation,  allow 
me  in  honesty  and  simplicity  of  heart,  to  utter  a few 
brief  sentences.  Death  has  come  among  you,  my 
friends,  in  no  ordinary  form.  You  have  just  buried 
your  minister,  and  are  now  expectants  of  that  glori- 
ous morning  when  he  shall  come  forth  from  the  grave 
in  which  he  has  been  entombed,  and  meet  you  before 
the  Son  of  Man.  What  he  has  been  to  you,  and  what 
you  have  been  to  him,  and  what  both  have  been  to 
God,  will  all  be  the  subject  of  an  impartial  scrutiny 
on  that  decisive  day. 

Your  minister  cannot  easily  be  forgotten.  His  vi- 
gilance, his  patience,  his  exertion,  his  perseverance, 
his  heroism,  his  fidelity,  have  left  an  impression  on 
your  minds  which  will  not  be  easily  effaced.  He 
has  not  presented  himself  before  you  in  this  sacred 
place  with  the  smooth  and  lying  tongue  of  flattery. 
He  has  told  you  truths  which  many  of  you  did  not 
wish  he  should  tell ; he  has  made  you  feel  what  you 
did  not  wish  to  feel ; he  has  made  you  fear  what  you 
did  not  wish  to  fear.  Instead  of  singing  the  syren 
song, 44  Peace,  peace,  when  God  has  said  there  is  no 
peace,”  he  has  lifted  his  voice  and  brought  home  the 


27 


commination, 44  There  is  no  peace,  saith  my  God,  to 
the  wicked.”  He  has  entered  into  the  foundation  of 
your  hopes,  exposed  your  sins,  disturbed  your  tran- 
quillity, and  discovered  the  mark  of  the  men  who 
have  44  a name  that  they  live  and  are  dead.”  By  his 
holy  doctrine  and  his  reproachless  example,  he  has 
reproved  you,  and  where  he  saw  them,  has  testified 
that  your  deeds  were  evil.  When  I consider  his  youth 
and  inexperience,  his  hardships  and  dangers,  his  con- 
stitutional pliancy  and  cheerfulness,  the  temptations 
to  which  he  was  exposed  from  your  flattery  and  your 
frown,  and  the  nameless  allurements  of  this  popu- 
lous city,  before  which  not  a few  of  the  standard- 
bearers  of  our  Zion  have  fainted;  I marvel  that  the 
grace  of  God  has  been  sufficient  for  him,  that  he  has 
been  kept  from  falling,  and  that  he  has  stood  fast  in 
the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  him  free.  He 
has  not  counted  his  life  dear  to  him  so  that  he  might 
finish  his  course  with  joy,  and  the  ministry  which  he 
had  received  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  testify  the  gospel 
of  the  grace  of  God.  In  this  blessed  work  he  finish- 
ed his  course,  and  has  gone  from  it,  as  we  humbly 
hope  and  believe,  to  take  possession  of  his  crown. 
His  life  and  his  death,  his  preaching  and  his  practice, 
his  course  and  his  crown,  will  not  be  easily  forgotten. 
Multitudes  of  you,  my  friends,  this  day  bear  the  con- 
demnation of  having  rejected  his  message.  And  you, 
in  defiance  of  yourselves,  can  never  forget  your  de- 
ceased minister.  And  if  even  at  this  late  hour,  when 
that  tongue  is  silent  and  those  eyes  are  closed  in  death, 
you  do  not  recall  the  lessons  he  has  inculcated;  if 
you  still  go  on  in  impenitence  and  live  and  die  with- 
out God  and  without  hope  ; the  time  will  come  when 
you  shall  know  to  your  cost,  that  a prophet  has  been 


28 


among  you.  His  visit  among  you  is  brought  to  a 
close ; his  work  is  done ; he  has  gone  to  his  rest ; and 
you  are  left  dead  in  sin.  “ The  harvest  is  past,  the 
summer  is  ended,  and  you  are  not  saved  !”  Your  mi- 
nister now  lies  a lifeless  clod.  But  he  shall  rise  again. 
Jesus  will  watch  over  that  slumbering  dust,  and  call 
it  from  its  sepulchre  to  appear  on  the  last  great  day 
before  his  bar.  Then  you  will  behold  him.  You  have 
separated  for  a little  time  now;  but  it  is  to  have  an- 
other and  most  affecting  meeting  then.  O what  an  in- 
terview w hen  this  people  and  their  departed  minister 
assemble  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ ! I be- 
seech you,  at  this  late  hour,  listen  to  the  voice  of 
your  minister,  as  it  issues  from  the  tomb.  64  Being 
dead,  he  yet  speaketh and  as  though  God  did  be- 
seech you  by  his  pale  and  lifeless  corse,  this  sad  pro- 
vidence prays  you  in  Christ’s  stead  to  become  recon- 
ciled to  God. 

I remarked,  your  minister  will  not  easily  be  forgot- 
ten. I will  add,  nor  can  his  place  be  easily  supplied. 
It  will  be  a rare  blessing,  if  the  God  of  heaven  should 
place  in  this  pulpit  a man  who  as  a public  preacher, 
supplies  the  vacancy  made  by  the  death  of  your  de- 
ceased pastor.  You  will  not  be  indifferent  to  this 
momentous  object.  Never  was  there  a more  mista- 
ken policy,  than  that  which  induces  a congregation 
from  indifference  to  the  object,  or  motives  of  econo- 
my, to  defer  the  choice  of  a minister.  After  this 
painful  bereavement,  how  much  will  you  stand  in 
need  of  one,  who,  by  the  influence  of  his  preaching, 
prayers,  and  example,  shall  excite  you  to  live  to  God 
— who,  by  his  discretion,  fidelity,  and  vigilance,  shall 
strengthen  and  build  up  in  the  holy  faith  this  ancient 
Zion — who,  by  his  patient  and  affectionate  exertions. 


29 


shall  train  up  the  young  in  the  nurture  and  admoni- 
tion of  the  Lord — who  shall  heal  your  wounds  in  the 
time  of  trouble — who  shall  accompany  you  by  his 
prayers  and  counsel  as  you  go  down  to  the  gates  of 
death  ! But,  for  this  wisdom  is  with  you.  You  will 
feel  the  necessity,  at  such  a crisis,  of  keeping  the 
unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bonds  of  peace.  If  the  ad- 
versary of  souls  can  sow  discord  among  your  coun- 
sels, many  a root  of  bitterness  will  spring  up  and  trou- 
ble you.  Walk  with  God  therefore,  my  brethren,  and 
he  will  walk  with  you.  He  will  heal  your  breaches 
and  build  you  up.  He  will  never  leave,  nor  forsake 
you.  Spread  your  desolations  before  the  eye  of  the 
Great  Shepherd.  Let  your  continued  cry  enter  into 
the  ear  of  the  God  of  Zion,  that  he  w ould  be  near  to 
this  mourning  flock,  avert  the  evils  to  which  they 
are  exposed,  and  speedily  provide  for  them  a man 
after  his  own  heart.  You  may  obtain  a minister 
without  asking  counsel  of  God.  But  if  you  do,  you 
will  obtain  a curse  rather  than  a blessing;  or  if  you 
obtain  a blessing,  it  will  only  be  to  have  him  again 
removed  to  some  other  part  of  the  vineyard,  or  torn 
away  by  the  hand  of  death.  Pardon  me  then,  my 
friends,  if  1 say,  plead  with  God  to  give  you,  not  this 
or  that  man — not  a man  of  this  party  or  that  party.* 
but  a man  after  his  own  heart.  Refer  the  choice  to  in- 
finite wisdom.  Commit  it  to  the  Great  Head  of  the 
church,  pleading  with  him  that  he  would  be  pacified 
tow  ard  you  for  Christ’s  sake,  and  glorify  himself  in 
giving  you  a pastor  after  his  own  heart.  Do  this,  do 
this  humbly  and  with  all  perseverance,  and  Infinite 
Wisdom  w ill  in  mercy  choose  for  you,  and  give  you 
the  man  you  pray  for;  and  he  shall  prove  a rich 
blessing  to  you  and  yours,  and  you  shall  have  joy  in 


;iO 


the  accomplishment  of  God’s  design,  which  no  man 
taketh  from  you. 

And  now,  my  friends,  we  leave  this  interesting  and 
affecting  scene.  Soon  we  shall  all  follow  our  depart- 
ed friend  to  the  world  of  spirits.  These  bodies  must 
moulder  in  the  dust,  and  rise  again  at  the  last  day. 
And  O ! to  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  that 
our  last  end  might  be  like  his ! How  blessed  an 
event  is  death  to  the  children  of  God  ! Can  this  vale 
of  tears  be  compared  with  that  world  where  all  tears 
shall  be  wiped  from  every  eye  ? Can  this  land  of 
darkness  be  compared  with  that  blessed  world  where 
the  Lord  is  their  everlasting  light,  and  God  their  glo- 
ry ? w Blessed  and  holy  is  he  that  hath  part  in  the 
first  resurrection.”  Enter,  my  brethren,  into  the  high 
and  holy  estimate  of  the  apostle,  and  44  count  all 
things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge 
of  Christ  Jesus  your  Lord,”  for  whom  you  may  well 
44  suffer  the  loss  of  all  things,  that  you  may  win  Christ 
and  be  found  in  him,  not  having  your  own  righteous- 
ness which  is  of  the  law',  but  that  which  is  through 
the  faith  of  Christ,  the  righteousness  which  is  of 
God  by  faith  : that  you  may  know7  him  and  the  power 
of  his  resurrection ; if  by  any  means  you  may  attain 
unto  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.”  And  w hy  defer 
this  momentous  business  another  day,  another  hour? 
Why  shall  not  the  death  of  your  minister  prove  the 
profitable  epoch,  from  which  you  shall  date  the  com- 
mencement of  a happy  immortality,  and  angels  shall 
rejoice  in  your  adoption  into  the  family  of  the  re- 
deemed? I do  entreat  you,  w ake  up  your  souls  to 
this  momentous  concern  now7.  By  all  the  affectionate 
recollections  associated  w ith  this  funeral  scene ; by 
all  the  solemnity  of  the  hour  when  you  must  take  up 


31 


your  abode  in  the  grave ; by  all  the  splendours  of 
that  immortal  morning  when  you  shall  hear  the  voice 
of  the  Son  of  God,  and  come  forth  incorruptible  and 
immortal;  by  all  that  is  tender  in  the  mercies  and  all 
that  is  fearful  in  the  judgments  of  that  day,  when  you 
and  your  minister  shall  stand  before  the  Son  of  Man; 
I beseech  you,  be  prepared  for  another  and  a better 
world.  O do  not  consent  to  live,  and  die,  and  be 
entombed,  and  at  last  summoned  to  the  bar  of  judg- 
ment, without  an  interest  in  the  crucified,  risen, 
reigning,  redeeming  Saviour ! 


THE  ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  AT  THE  FUNERAL* 


It  would  evince  a censurable  insensibility,  if  when 
the  righteous  perished,  no  man  laid  it  to  heart. 
When  Stephen  fell  asleep,  devout  men  made  great 
lamentation  over  him.  It  is  not  often,  my  respected 
friends,  that  death  performs  so  sad  an  office  as  that 
which  has  called  us  to-day  to  this  house  of  mourn- 
ing. While  we  expect  his  commission  to  be  executed 
without  discrimination  of  age,  rank,  character,  con- 
dition or  office,  rarely  does  he  defeat  so  many  ex- 
pectations as  were  concentrated  in  the  beloved  man 
whose  loss  we  all  so  deeply  deplore,  or  sacrifice  so 
many  interests  as  have  fallen  a sacrifice  to  his  un- 
bending purpose  in  this  visitation. 

There  is  a veil  drawn  over  this  event,  which  no 
human  vision  can  penetrate, — a cloud  enveloping 
this  dispensation,  so  deep  and  heavy,  that  faith  her- 
self with  difficulty  sees  through  it.  A creature  of 
God,  suddenly  arrested  in  his  career,  and  brought 
down  to  the  grave ; a young  man,  esteemed  and 
beloved  by  all  who  knew  him ; a man  invested  with 
no  ordinary  intellectual  powers,  and  qualified  as  we 
trust  by  the  grace  of  God,  for  distinguished  useful- 
ness in  the  world ; the  husband  of  an  afflicted  widow, 
who  is  tempted  to  feel  that  all  her  sublunary  hopes 

E 


34 


are  about  to  be  consigned  to  the  tomb ; the  father  of 
endeared  children,  whose  immature  years  have  not 
yet  learned  to  appreciate  their  loss;  the  judicious 
counsellor,  and  efficient  patron  of  some  of  the  most 
happy  designs  of  Christian  benevolence ; the  minis- 
ter of  the  everlasting  gospel — the  pastor  of  a be- 
reaved church  and  congregation — a man  holding  the 
highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  King  of  kings,  and 
already  beginning  to  exert  an  influence  on  the  intel- 
lectual, moral,  and  spiritual  interests  of  his  fellow- 
men,  which  will  be  felt  through  interminable  ages ; — • 
all  this,  and  more  than  this,  has  become  the  victim 
of  this  holy  and  inscrutable  providence.  What  rea- 
son have  we  to  look  upward  and  say,  44  Clouds  and 
darkness  are  round  about  Him  ?” 

But  is  there  no  light  dawning  upon  this  scene  of 
tears  and  darkness  ? While  in  prostrate  adoration,  we 
exclaim, 44  Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  Him,” 
do  we  need  the  assurance,  that  “justice  and  judg- 
ment are  the  habitation  of  his  throne,”  and  44  mercy 
and  truth  go  before  his  face  ?”  Is  it  necessary  for  us  to 
demand,  “Shall  not  the  judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right?” 
What,  though  we  are  incompetent  to  the  reasons 
which  have  governed  the  infinite  mind  in  this  melan- 
choly result;  confident  are  we  it  is  just  as  full  of 
wisdom  and  goodness,  as  of  affecting  and  painful 
reality.  44  The  Lord  reigneth;  let  the  earth  rejoice !” 
Who  does  not  see  the  dominion  of  Jehovah  here? 
How  full  of  God ! Be  events  then  ever  so  disastrous 
and  inexplicable,  so  long  as  they  disclose  the  hand 
and  heart  of  God,  “Let  the  earth  rejoice!”  I call 
upon  my  own  soul  and  yours  therefore,  under  the 
sorrows  of  this  bereavement,  to  44  be  still  and  know 
that  it  is  God and  whatever  struggle  it  may  cost 


us*  from  our  hearts  to  say,  “ The  Lord  gave,  and  the 
Lord  hath  taken  away,  and  blessed  be  the  name  of 
the  Lord  !” 

The  world  we  inhabit,  notwithstanding  it  is  so  re- 
plete with  the  divine  goodness,  is  devoted  by  the 
God  of  purity,  the  righteous  avenger,  to  sorrow  and 
death.  Into  no  other  section  of  his  extended  empire 
known  to  us,  has  death  been  allowed  to  enter. 
Heaven,  with  all  its  holiness  and  enjoyment,  is  im- 
mortal ; hell,  with  all  its  moral  pollution  and  misery, 
is  immortal ; earth  only  is  mortal,  and  its  every  in- 
habitant under  the  operation  of  that  original  sen- 
tence, “ Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  re- 
turn.” “ As  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world, 
and  death  by  sin  ; so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for 
that  all  have  sinned.”  There  is  scarcely  an  appro- 
priate image  or  metaphor  the  Scriptures  do  not  seize 
to  impress  this  affecting  truth ; and  as  though  it  were 
the  most  unwelcome  truth  and  the  most  reluctantly 
believed,  they  employ  all  the  varieties  of  argument, 
illustration,  assertion,  announcement,  and  admonition, 
to  enforce  the  salutary  sentiment. 

Truly,  this  is  a dying  world.  Every  object  around 
us  bears  the  marks  of  decay  and  dissolution.  The 
globe  itself  has  well  nigli  become  a mighty  grave- 
yard, an  extended  sepulchre  for  the  bones  of  its  wast- 
ed and  wasting  inhabitants.  It  would  seem  as  though 
almost  every  foot  of  ground  inhabited  by  men,  and 
doubtless  no  small  part  of  that  which  appears  to  us 
to  have  been  uninhabited,  had  been  consecrated  by 
the  ashes  of  the  dead.  Almost  from  pole  to  pole,  and 
from  ocean  to  ocean,  the  subterranean  earth  has  been 
arched  by  one  continuous  sepulchre.  It  is  no  easy 
matter  for  the  imagination  to  grasp  the  mighty  amount 


36 


of  individuals  which  compose  the  different  nations  of 
men  in  one  generation.  But  how  many  generations 
have  succeeded  one  another  in  the  long  series  of  six 
thousand  years,  all  descending  to  the  tomb ! 

“ How  populous,  how  vital  is  the  grave.'0 

The  period  allotted  to  man  in  the  present  world  is 
short.  You  have  beheld  the  rapid  flight  of  the  eagle 
when  she  hasteth  to  her  prey ; you  have  seen  the 
shooting  meteor;  you  have  stood  on  the  summit  of 
some  lofty  mountain,  and  seen  the  shadows  fly  over 
the  distant  plain;  you  have  gathered  the  flowers 
of  the  field,  and  felt  them  wilt  in  the  gathering ; 
you  have  observed  the  vapour  that  appeareth  for  a 
little  time,  and  then  vanisheth  away.  Such  is  the  life 
of  man ! When  you  cast  your  eyes  over  the  face  of 
human  society,  how  few  are  the  hoary -headed!  When 
you  visit  the  land  of  your  fathers,  wdiere  do  you  find 
the  multitude  of  your  relatives,  friends,  and  early  as- 
sociates ?— inhabiting  the  venerable  mansions  of  the 
living,  or  the  still  more  venerable  mansions  of  the 
dead  ? — crowding  the  scenes  of  youthful  amusement 
and  business,  or  noiseless  and  almost  forgotten  amid 
the  clods  of  the  valley  ? In  w hat  community,  con- 
gregation, or  family,  is  not  an  old  man  a rare  specta- 
cle? When  you  survey  the  bills  of  mortality  from 
different  quarters  of  the  globe,  how  few  are  register- 
ed there,  which  survived  the  shock  of  seventy  win- 
ters ? As  you  run  down  the  record,  and  descend  to 
sixty,  fifty,  forty,  thirty,  twenty  years,  how  is  the 
amount  accumulated  ? And  as  you  come  to  ten  and 
five  years,  you  see  how  the  largest  half  of  the  human 
race  seem  just  to  light  on  our  globe,  and  then  fly  away 
to  unknown  regions.  And  with  what  indiscriminate 


37 


desolation  does  the  King  of  Terrors  pursue  his 
course ! The  weeping  infant  and  the  playful  child — 
blooming  youth,  vigorous  manhood,  and  trembling 
age — grace,  beauty,  and  tenderness — the  prince  and 
the  beggar — Dives  arrayed  in  purple  and  fine  linen, 
and  Lazarus  at  his  gate — the  vigorous  and  the  en- 
feebled— the  man  of  expectation  and  influence,  and 
the  child  of  misfortune  and  apprehension — the  holy 
and  the  profane — the  moral  and  the  vicious — the 
thoughtless  and  the  anxious — the  self-deceived  and 
the  hypocrite — the  minister  and  his  people,  have  all 
become  tenants  of  the  tomb,  all  “ lie  down  alike  in 
the  dust,  and  the  worms  cover  them  !”  No  elevation 
nor  intelligence,  no  usefulness  nor  influence,  no  ties  of 
friendship  nor  tears  of  friends,  no  means  nor  efforts, 
with  whatever  skill  or  assiduity  they  may  be  applied, 
can  stay  the  ruthful  blow,  or  prevent  the  undistin- 
guished devastation. 

Ido  not  wonder  this  is  an  unwelcome  truth.  Who 
does  not  feel  it  a solemn  thing  to  die ! Deep  and 
affecting  must  be  the  sensibilities  of  that  hour.  This 
wonderful  machinery  finishes  its  thousand  operations, 
and  the  curious  fabric  is  dashed  and  broken.  These 
earthly  bodies,  now7  so  full  of  life,  activity,  vigour, 
warmth,  and  beauty,  are  bereft  of  their  genial  spirit, 
and  become  a dead,  cold,  inanimate  lump  of  loath- 
some matter,  destined  only  to  the  narrow  enclosures, 
of  the  grave,  there  to  waste  away  and  become  the 
food  of  worms.  Revolting  anticipation ! Impressive 
must  be  the  solemnities  of  that  scene,  where  the  day 
of  grace  and  the  space  for  repentance  are  brought 
to  a final  period — where  the  line  is  drawn  that  sepa- 
rates eternity  from  time,  and  beyond  which  there  w ill 
be  no  change  of  character,  but  every  one  of  us  will 


38 


have  received  that  indelible  impression  which  lasts 
for  ever!  Unutterable  must  be  the  interests  sus- 
pended on  that  moment  which  conducts  this  crea- 
ture of  immortality  either  to  a happy  or  a miserable 
eternity — which  introduces  the  liberated  spirit  to  her 
career  above  the  shining  firmament,  or  to  her  fearful 
abyss,  low  as  the  blackness  of  darkness,  and  deep  as 
the  horrors  of  despair — where  no  light  of  mercy 
shines,  no  voice  of  ministers  is  heard,  no  entreating 
Redeemer  cheers  with  his  presence  and  smile,  no 
watchful  angels  hover  to  bear  away  the  enrapturing 
tidings  of  the  sinner’s  repentance  ! 

There  is  a wide  difference  between  the  death  of 
the  righteous  and  the  wicked.  “The  wicked  is 
driven  away  in  his  Avickedness,  but  the  righteous 
hath  hope  in  his  death.”  Amid  the  terrors  of  that 
scene,  a revered  Prince  was  once  heard  to  say, 
“ Although  my  house  be  not  so  w ith  God,  yet  hath  he 
made  with  me  an  everlasting  covenant,  ordered  in 
all  things,  and  sure ; and  this  is  all  my  salvation,  and 
all  my  desire.”  Amid  the  terrors  of  that  scene, 
aggravated  by  the  cruelty  of  his  blood-thirsty 
persecutors,  the  first  Christian  martyr,  with  the  full 
glories  of  heaven  opened  to  his  vision,  and  the  Son 
of  Man  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  could  say, 
“Lord  Jesus  receive  my  spirit.”  Amid  the  terrors  of 
that  scene,  the  most  exalted  spirit  that  ever  adorned 
the  world  could  exclaim,  “ I am  now  ready  to  be  offer- 
ed, and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I have 
fought  a good  fight;  I have  finished  my  course;  I 
have  kept  the  faith  : henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for 
me  a crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the 
righteous  Judge,  will  give  me  at  that  day;  and  not 
to  me  only,  but  to  all  them  that  love  his  appearing.” 


39 


And  now  contrast  with  these,  the  agonies  of  that  scene 
from  which  the  wicked  sink  into  the  pit  of  despair. 
On  the  eve  of  her  dissolution,  an  ungodly  Queen  once 
exclaimed, 44  Millions  of  money  for  a moment  of  time !” 
Just  at  the  moment  of  his  departure  from  the  body, 
a titled  apostate  once  exclaimed,  44  O the  pains  of 
hell  and  damnation !”  and  then  expired.  Nay,  contrast 
with  these,  the  last  sentence  of  many  a sinner  that 
dies  from  week  to  week  here  in  our  own  city, — 44  O I 
cannot  find  rest ! I am  afraid  to  die !” — and  then 
say,  how  happy  an  event  is  death  to  the  people  of 
God  ! how  painful  an  event  to  God’s  enemies ! Would 
you,  my  friends,  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and 
desire  your  last  end  to  be  like  his  ? Like  him,  you 
must  possess  that  holiness  without  which  no  man 
shall  see  the  Lord.  Like  him,  you  must  possess  a 
new  heart  and  a new  spirit.  Like  him,  you  must  give 
the  God  of  heaven  the  supreme  affection  of  your 
souls,  and  delight  in  the  law  of  the  Lord  after  the 
inward  man.  Like  him,  you  must  renounce  your 
self-righteousness  and  self-dependence,  and  rely 
alone  upon  the  expiation  for  sin  made  by  the  Lord 
Jesus,  as  the  foundation  of  pardon  and  acceptance 
with  God.  Like  him,  the  life  that  44  you  live  in  the 
flesh”  must  be  by  44  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God, 
who  loved  you,  and  gave  himself  for  you.”  The  same 
mind  must  be  in  you  that  was  in  Jesus  Christ.  And 
then  this  blessed  Redeemer  dwelling  in  you — in  all 
the  purifying  influence  of  his  truth  and  grace  and  all 
the  comforting  influence  of  his  presence  and  faith- 
fulness duelling  in  you — will  strip  death  of  his  ter- 
rors, rob  death  of  his  sting,  and  the  grave  of  his  vic- 
tory,— and  44  die  how  you  will,  where  you  will,  and  when 
you  will,-— for  you  to  die  is  gain  /” 


40 


It  is  thus  the  righteous  meet  the  event  of  death  with 
tranquillity  and  joy.  It  was  thus,  amid  all  the  de- 
bility, and  pain,  and  terrors  of  that  fearful  scene, 
that  our  dear  departed  brother  found  a comfortable 
release  from  his  labours  and  trials  in  the  hour  of  his 
dissolution.  Death  was  no  unexpected  event  to  him. 
Though  there  was  nothing  in  the  last  hours  of  our 
brother’s  life  singularly  triumphant,  there  was  much 
that  was  peaceful  and  happy,  and  we  trust  he  sleeps 
in  Jesus. — But  he  is  gone.  We  shall  see  his  face  no 
more. 

My  friends  of  this  Church  and  Congregation ! Look 
at  that  lifeless  corse.  There  is  all  that  remains  of 
your  minister.  The  hand  of  God  hath  touched  you. 
It  is  but  a few  short  years  since  God  sent  our  be- 
loved brother  among  you.  How  soon  have  his 
labours  reached  their  appointed  close ! And  now 
at  this  solemn  hour,  permit  me  to  inquire,  what  bene- 
fit have  you  derived  from  the  instructions  your 
deceased  minister  has  imparted?  what  from  the 
example  he  has  set  before  you  ? what  from  all  the 
tender  intercourse  he  has  had  with  you  in  your 
chambers  of  sickness,  amid  your  scenes  of  trial, 
around  your  beds  of  death,  and  from  this  sacred 
desk  ? What  reception  has  his  message  met  with  ? 
What  account  can  you  give  when  you  meet  him  at 
the  bar  of  God  ? What  influence  will  his  ministry 
have  on  you  in  another  world  ? In  a little  time  you 
will  stand  with  him  before  that  high  and  righteous 
tribunal.  That  event  is  near.  And  have  you  weigh- 
ed well  the  import  of  that  fearful  reality  ? It  is  no 
illusion ; that  coming  day  is  a day  of  realities. 

My  brethren  in  the  Ministry ! will  you  not  look  at 
that  lifeless  corse  ? There  is  all  this  world  contains 


41 


of  our  beloved  brother  Whelpley.  Another  of  out- 
number is  gone  to  the  world  of  spirits.  He  has 
gone  to  give  up  his  account  to  God  the  judge  of  all; 
gone,  to  stand  before  the  Son  of  Man ; gone,  to  have 
the  secrets  of  his  heart  disclosed ; gone,  to  take  his 
place  on  the  right  hand  or  left  of  the  Judge,  accord- 
ing to  the  character  he  formed  in  the  present  world. 
How  solemn  for  a minister  of  the  gospel  to  die  ! 
How  unutterably  solemn  for  a minister  of  the  Gospel 
to  appear  before  the  bar  of  judgment ! 

And  does  not  this  solemn  providence  speak  in  tones 
of  affecting  admonition  to  you  and  to  me  ? Who 
have  a deeper  interest  in  such  an  event,  my  fathers 
and  brethren,  than  we  who  are  ministers?  We  may 
not  close  the  lips  of  this  solemn  providence,  nor  shut 
our  hearts  when  they  speak  to  us.  It  is  not  often 
that  I stand  in  the  presence  of  so  large  a number  of 
the  ministers  of  Christ.  I feel  the  constraint  of  ob- 
ligations, my  brethren,  on  this  occasion,  which  I may 
not  disregard.  Over  the  grave  of  our  departed  bro- 
ther, let  us  not  think  lightly  of  any  thing  that  per- 
tains to  the  responsibility  of  our  high  office  as 
the  ministers  of  Jesus.  And  here  I wish  I pos- 
sessed ability  and  self-denial  enough,  faithfully  to 
discharge  the  duty  this  solemn  scene  imposes  upon 
me.  The  afflictive  providence  which  has  bereaved 
us  of  this  beloved  brother,  does  speak  in  language 
which  the  church  and  the  world  hear,  even  if  mi- 
nisters will  not  hear.  My  fathers  and  brethren,  if 
the  light  that  is  in  us  be  darkness,  how  great  is  that 
darkness ! Is  there  no  evidence  that  even  minis- 
ters among  us,  have  a name  that  they  live  and  are 
dead  ? And  among  those  that  live,  how  enfeebled 
is  their  spiritual  existence?  How  little  is  accom- 

F 


plished  for  the  interests  of  the  Redeemer's  king- 
dom, by  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  in  this  me- 
tropolis, compared  with  what  might  be  accomplished, 
if  their  love  to  God  and  man  were  more  ardent,  if 
they  had  fervent  charity  among  themselves,  if  they 
did  not  count  their  lives  dear  to  them,  so  that  they 
might  finish  their  course  with  joy,  and  the  ministry 
they  have  received  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  testify  the 
Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God. 

Are  there  no  evils  in  the  midst  of  us,  my  brethren, 
which  it  becomes  us  to  survey  in  this  near  light  of 
eternity  ? Are  there  no  strifes  and  divisions  among 
us— no  jealousies — no  heart-burning  rivalships — no 
chilling  alienations — no  sectional  or  congregational 
rivalships  that  will  not  bear  the  scrutiny  of  a dying 
hour  ? But  I must  not  suppress  the  voice  of  this 
solemn  providence.  Is  there  no  sinful  conformity  to 
the  wrorld- — no  lust  of  the  eye — no  pride  of  life,  which 
is  not  of  the  Father?  “Take  heed  to  yourselves 
brethren,  lest  at  any  time  your  hearts  be  overcharged 
with  surfeiting,  and  drunkenness,  and  cares  of  this 
life,  and  so  that  day  come  upon  you  unawTares.”  Is 
there  no  sinful  defect  in  our  intercourse  with  each 
other?  Would  not  Paul,  and  John,  and  Peter, 
have  maintained  a more  spiritual  intercourse  ? Did 
Brainerd  and  Edwards,  think  you — did  Sutcliffe, 
Fuller,  and  Ryland,  take  no  deeper  interest  in 
watching  over  one  another,  and  building  up  one 
another  in  faith  and  purity  ? Oh,  if  they  had 
been  like  ourselves,  where  had  been  their  sacred 
enterprises  for  the  salvation  of  men — where  their 
humble  walk  with  God — where  the  savour  of  their 
good  name — where  their  happy  influence  on  earth, 
or  maturity  for  heaven  ? My  fathers  and  brethren, 
Satan  hath  desired  to  have  us,  that  he  might  sift  us  as 


43 


wheat.  Believe  me,  the  Lord  is  coming  out  of  his 
place,  to  shake  terribly  the  earth.  “His  fan  is  in  his 
hand,  and  he  will  thoroughly  purge  his  floor,  and 
gather  the  wheat  into  the  garner;  hut  he  will  burn 
up  the  chaff  with  unquenchable  fire.”  And  if  there 
is  a woe  denounced  against  him  that  is  at  ease  in 
Zion,  woe,  woe  be  to  the  minister  of  the  Gospel  who 
is  found  faithless  ! Be  not  deceived,  my  brethren  : 
evil  communications  corrupt  good  manners.  Awake 
to  righteousness  and  sin  not.  Our  profession  and  our 
office  are  of  very  little  account,  so  long  as  they  are  not 
sustained  by  a corresponding  devotement  to  God.  If 
we  say  we  have  fellowship  with  him,  and  walk  in  dark- 
ness, we  lie,  and  do  not  the  truth.  But  if  we  walk  in 
the  light,  as  he  is  in  the  light,  we  have  fellowship  with 
one  another,  and  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son, 
cleanseth  from  all  sin.  If  we  do  not  walk  circum- 
spectly and  as  wise,  redeeming  the  time';  if  we  are  de- 
ceived in  our  hearts,  and  in  our  hopes ; if  we  are 
stained  by  error  or  vice ; let  us  not  presume  that  we 
shall  possess  any  official  dispensation  in  the  day  that 
tries  the  characters  of  men,  or  that  we  shall  evade 
the  rigour  and  impartiality  of  that  account  which 
fixes  the  destiny  of  every  man,  according  to  the 
deeds  done  in  the  body. 

I have  no  apology  for  this  plainness  of  speech, 
except  the  lifeless  body  of  our  departed  brother. 
Ministers,  look  at  it.  That  silent  tongue  expressive- 
ly indicates  what  will  shortly  be  the  termination  of 
our  course.  A few  more  scenes  of  labour,  faithful 
or  unfaithful,  and  we  die.  We  loved  our  deceased 
brother.  He  was  to  us  a most  affectionate  brother. 
And  nowr  he  is  gone,  does  he  not  seem  to  allure  us 
upwrard,  and  induce  us  to  say,  “ Let  us  go  away,  that 


44 


we  may  die  with  him.”  Upward  then  be  the  ten- 
dency of  our  thoughts— upward  the  tendency  of  our 
habits — upward  all  our  aspirations— upward  our 
standard  of  piety  and  usefulness.  I implore  you,  my 
brethren,  by  the  solemnities  of  this  affecting  hour,  by 
the  heavy  responsibility  of  our  office,  by  the  coming 
glories,  and  the  coming  wrath ; to  see  to  it,  that  the 
standard  of  ministerial  piety  and  example  be  more 
elevated : — that  you  walk  more  worthy  of  your  high 
vocation ;— and  that  you  possess  a more  vivid,  deep, 
and  habitual  impression,  that  you  watch  for  souls  as 
thev  that  must  give  account.  And  God  grant  that 
my  own  bosom  may  be  excited,  and  my  own  lingering 
steps  quickened  by  the  considerations  I address  to 
you ! O let  us  be  more  spiritual.  Let  us  be  more 
conversant  with  the  realities  of  another  world.  Let 
us  walk  by  faith.  Let  us  labour  with  unfainting 
assiduity  to  finish  the  work  God  has  given  us  to  do! 

Men  and  brethren,  who  are  spectators  of  this 
solemn  scene,  what  do  you  behold  here  ? A man 
of  God,  who  being  dead,  yet  speaketh.  To  each  of 
you  he  says,  4 What  will  become  of  you  after  death  ? 
What  have  you  to  look  for  on  the>  other  side  of  the 
grave?  Death  will  come;  it  may  be  suddenly,  and 
find  you  unprepared.  Behold,  now  is  the  accepted 
time.’ — Does  he  indeed  utter  this  ? O that  those 
pallid  lips  could  once  more  address  you!  But  I 
have  done.  I have  no  heart  to  speak.  I cannot 
bring  home  to  my  bosom  the  painful  reality,  that 
this  dear  brother  has  gone  to  rest.  Is  it  so,  that  we 
shall  never  hear  that  enchanting  voice  again,  and 
never  again  in  this  lonely  world,  be  welcomed  by 
that  cheeiful  smile?  My  soul  be  still,  and  know 
that  it  is  God.  Adieu,  dear  brother!  Servant  of 
God,  farewell ! 


